Multiple burner grill

ABSTRACT

An improved barbeque grill having a plurality of gas-fueled cooking surfaces which can be stored in stacked relation, yet can be moved into essentially side-by-side relation for cooking.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/217,706 filed Aug. 10, 2002, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/381,080 filed May 17, 2002, both of which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein in their entirety, including drawings.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to barbeque grills and is particularly directed to improved barbeque grills having a plurality of cooking surfaces.

BACKGROUND

Outdoor cooking has long been a popular pastime and, in recent years, the development of barbeque grills has greatly increased the appeal of this practice. This has been especially true since the introduction of barbeque grills fueled with propane and the like. However, it is often necessary or desirable to cook several different types of foods for a single meal. Thus, some may prefer steaks, while others prefer chicken or seafood. Unfortunately, each of these different foods must be cooked at a respective temperature, whereas most gas-fueled grills only provide one burner. Consequently, it is necessary to cook the different foods sequentially, which greatly increases the amount of time required to prepare a meal and necessitates feeding the guests sequentially as their desired foods are cooked. Some multiple burner barbeque grills have been provided. However, these provide the burners is side-by-side arrangement which greatly increases the size of the grill and makes storage much more difficult. Thus, none of the prior art barbeque grills have been entirely satisfactory.

SUMMARY

These disadvantages of the prior art are overcome with the present invention and an improved barbeque grill is provided which enables a user to cook several different types of foods simultaneously at respective temperatures, yet is compact and convenient to store when not in use

These advantages of the present invention are preferably attained by providing a barbeque grill having a plurality of cooking surfaces which store in stacked relation, yet which can be moved into essentially side-by-side relation for cooking and which can quickly and easily be returned to the stacked position when no longer needed.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved barbeque grill.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved barbeque grill having a plurality of cooking surfaces.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide an improved barbeque grill having a plurality of gas-fueled cooking surfaces.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved barbeque grill having a plurality of gas-fueled cooking surfaces, yet which can be stored conveniently in a minimum of space.

A specific object of the present invention is to provide an improved barbeque grill having a plurality of gas-fueled cooking surfaces which can be stored in stacked relation, yet can be moved into essentially side-by-side relation for cooking.

These and other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, taken with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a barbeque grill embodying the present invention, shown with the cooking surfaces in the stored position;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the barbeque grill of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the barbeque grill of FIG. 1, showing the cooking surfaces extended for use.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In that form of the present invention chosen for purposes of illustration, FIG. 1 show a barbeque grill, indicated generally at 10 having a base 12 supported by a plurality of legs 14 supporting a plurality of cooking surfaces 16, 18 and 20. Each of the cooking surfaces 16, 18 and 20 comprises a burner 22 and a food supporting surface 24, such as a grill, griddle or the like. A fuel source, such as propane tank 26 may be stored in the base 12 and may be connected to supply the burners 22 in a conventional manner. Cooking surface 16 is mounted between several of the legs 14, while cooking surfaces 18 and 20 are pivotally mounted on respective ones of the legs 14 and are swingable between a stored position, in line with cooking surface 16, and an extended position, as seen in FIG. 3. If desired, the cooking surfaces 18 and 20 may be mounted so that in the extended position, they may be lowered to lie in the same plane with cooking surface 16, as shown in dotted lines at 18′ and 20′.

In use, cooking surfaces 18 and 20 are normally located in the stored position, as seen in FIG. 1, which allows the barbeque grill 10 to be stored conveniently in a minimum of space. When the user desired to do some cooking, they move the grill 10 to a desired location and swing cooking surfaces 18 and 20 to their extended positions. This provides the user with a plurality of cooking surfaces whose cooking temperatures may be individually controlled. Thus, cooking surface 16 may be adjusted to high heat for cooking steaks or the like, while cooking surfaces 18 and 20 may be set to lower cooking temperatures for cooking chicken, fish or other items. Also, if desired, the food supporting surface 24 of cooking surface 16 may be a grill, while the food supporting surface 24 of cooking surface 18 may be a griddle and the food supporting surface 24 of cooking surface 20 may be ribbed or otherwise formed for cooking specialized items. If desired, recesses 28 may be provided to allow receive beverage containers or the like and hooks 30 may be provided to allow cooking utensils or the like to be hung thereon.

Obviously, numerous variations and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, it should be clearly understood that the form of the present invention described above and shown in the figures of the accompanying drawing is illustrative only and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. 

1. A barbeque grill comprising: a base having a plurality of legs, a plurality of cooking surfaces, one of said cooking surfaces being fixedly mounted on said base, at least one other of said cooking surfaces being mounted for movement between a first stored position in alignment with said base and a second extended position.
 2. The grill of claim 1 wherein: said extended position is on the same level as said one of said cooking surfaces
 3. The grill of claim 1 further comprising: a fuel source stored within said base and connected to supply said cooking surfaces.
 4. The grill of claim 1 wherein: each of said cooking surfaces comprises a burner and a food supporting surface for maintain food in a desired position above said burner.
 5. The grill of claim 4 wherein: at least one of said food supporting surfaces is a grill.
 6. The grill of claim 4 wherein: at least one of said food supporting surfaces is a griddle.
 7. The grill of claim 4 wherein: at least one of said food supporting surfaces has a textured surface.
 8. The grill of claim 1 further comprising separate temperature controls for each of said cooking surfaces.
 9. The grill of claim 1 further comprising: at least one recess formed in said base for receiving a beverage container.
 10. The grill of claim 1 further comprising: means for releasably attaching cooking utensils to said grill. 